Chapter 8 Module 3 C&G machine embroidery completed

"One item of embroidery using straight and zigzag stitches. The item is to be developed from the Design and Craft unit ideas, to use free machine and presser foot."

Chapter 8 - Assessment piece

What? 

Possible ideas for stitching.

Box- I am a bit of a box collector and had an idea for a four sided box depicting the seasons using leaf images and flowers

Hanging - I could develop 3D shapes

Bag - I like bags as much as boxes; they are useful but not interesting enough for this piece.

Vessel - Vessel- This interests me as I can use 3D stitching - height depth and texture and lots of opportunities to develop ideas.

Round bowl _ I have made bowls before and whilst I enjoy making them, I'd like to do something different

Fan - This is a nice idea - I could make a continuous image and then segment it for the leaves of the fan. This is an idea that I might pursue in the course

Purse - Too small to include much stitch

Book cover - everyone makes book covers

Shoe - I like the idea of embroidered shoes - they have great potential, old and new, traditional or modern.

I stopped making the list as I felt that it was sufficient but from those ideas chose the three most challenging. 1, the vessel; 2, the box and 3, the shoe

I have submitted my planning sheet in a previous blog but looking back, don't seem to have added these ideas from my small note book.

Chapter 9 - The sampling, threads and colours have been shown in previous progress blogs. The progress of the piece has been slow as I have been very busy, so slightly disjointed and created in small elements.

Chapter 10
There were some pieces to be made to finish the piece. A tree was going to be used as the joining piece between the scapes to form the cylinder. A Thermafax screen of a British deciduous tree was used and acrylic paint onto water-soluble material and hooped when dry. I wasn't sure that the wet of the paint wouldn't dissolve the water-soluble; it didn't. Using some sprung wire, I zigzagged the trunk and branches to create a skeleton of the tree. Then some silk waste was laid on top of the structure and another layer of water-soluble laid on top to hold it down. I then stitched the branches in straight and zigzag free stitches to ensure that everything was trapped and would hold together when the water-soluble was dissolved.

Th piece was washed to dissolve the water-soluble, dried with paper towels and a hair dryer and then the head of the tree 'painted' with Paverpol to create  some support.

The head of the tree.

The tree was then stitched to each side of the main piece with invisible thread and the back join covered with the same silk as had been used for the lining. The head of the tree was caught to each scape at a couple of points the keep it supported but it stands out from the adjoining sides in 3D

The tree joining the two ends of the piece

The side of the tree

The sea with a wave 

The horizontal sea extension is lined with metal to hold shape and the wave was similarly created using three layers of fabric. A dark silk for the internal curve, the same blue as the sea for the external but covered with white organza and a layer of copper mesh sandwiched inside the silks. This was free embroidered and using some water-soluble, some 'white horses' were stitched to the top edge of the wave which was then attached to the sea. The back of the wave is not wave shaped, but the accuracy of the natural elements was not the point, more to create interest and texture/movement.

The stitched title

Having stitched this before I realised that I had misspelt the title. So I looked again at spelling and found more than one for this ancient word. I restitched it on the same silk as previously used and Bondawebbed and stitched over the erroneous title. This was then bordered with a foot down automatic brick stitch which was also used around the piece with invisible thread.

The following pictures take a tour of the finished piece. 

The join

The village

The transition from village to sea

The cliff/sea scape

The transition from Sea/cliff to country scape

The country scape

The tree join from the country scape side

The piece is lined with a complimentary coloured silk throughout.

Photo of me working during module

Evaluation

ITEM	PLANNING	EVALUATION
Design source	I intend to use four British ‘scapes’ to create a four-sided vessel. I will use both imagination and photographic sources for my design	The four was changed to three and instead of four sides will be cylindrical
Design elements
Colour	The colours that I use will not compete with each other but will be subtle and reflect the ‘scapes’ that they portray.	The colours were all relevant to the scape that they depicted. I especially like the contrast of the cliff piece compared to the softer country and village scapes
Line	The line within the sides of the vessel will reflect the components such as cliffs, buildings etc, so thick and thin, filled and voided as required	The line created in each element was relevant to the image being depicted, so perspective in receding fields in the country scape  rock sizes in the sea scape an paths/roads in the village.
Shape and form	The shape will be rectangular and four-sided. Two of the sides will have vertical extensions, one above the main body of the work and one below. The sides will be joined to form a vessel and a base will complete the piece	Cylindrical using three scapes as this would work better, the extensions to elements of the cylinder remain
Texture	The piece will have many textures as I will create buildings, water, fields, rocks, moorland, cliffs, sky, grass, flowers etc., and will create a 3D effect in some of the elements.	The sky was stitched but did not worked well with the sample and therefore removed. The cliffs are very textured to show the clefts and ridges. The free embroidered tree is made from silk waste stitched and wired and supported using Paverpol.
Composition	The piece will have four sides and a base. On the first side there will be representation of moorland where are small stream rises through the heath. A standing stone will represent the history of the land. The moorland will be created with couched snippets to represent gorse and bracken and heather and may contain a bird perhaps a pheasant. The second side will depict the essence of the countryside including hills and fields. A stream will run along the bottom of this side through the grass. At the front and in relief, there will be a field mouse, corn and a poppy. The third side there will represent a townscape including a church with a steeple which will extend outside and above the “box’ or the piece. A pigeon will be mid-air above the steeple. A small river will run under a bridge in this side of the work. And finally the fourth side, will create the feeling of limestone cliffs with fallen rocks at the base. A rocky beach with waves and ‘white horses’ will extend from the base of the ‘box’ horizontally to reflect the church steeple elevation on the opposite side of the piece. A seagull will fly above the cliff.	The piece is now cylindrical no longer depicting a moorland. The birds and the field mouse were not included as to get them in perspective with the rest of the piece, they would be too small to make an impact.
Quality	The work will have 3D elements and whilst robust in structure will have subtle and gentle elements in the country and village scapes but a strong rugged appearance in the cliffs	The objectives for the quality of the piece were met.
Materials
Base/background	As the piece will be heavily stitched and incorporate many textiles and textures, Pelmet Vilene will be used as the main support but metal will be used certainly to support the church steeple
Fabrics	The lining will be silk in a subtle colour to prevent discordance with the work on the outside. A large variety of fabrics representing the many elements within the piece	Silk, scrim, organza, calico
Threads	Threads will be from a broad collection. Thickness, colour, stitches and type, straight, free, pattern etc. will be appropriate to the element of the work being created	Madeira embroidery thread, metallic for poppies in corn. Complimentary and contrasting colours
Other	Metals will be used in this piece, some heat-treated, some left in their natural state. Sprung wire the thickness of a hair will appear to suspend the birds in flights of fancy!	Metal was used within the fabrics making the sea to enable it to be right angled from the cylinder. A wave was added and also encased copper mesh to create support. The tree had sprung metal encased to support branches and also to support the flag on the tower
Construction
Size	No more than 24’ high (excluding steeple and water) x18’ wide (per side)	The piece is approximately 12” high as the sky was omitted and has a circumference of approximately 24”
Edges	The piece will be joined probably by hand with complimentary stitching	The piece was stitched around the edges using zigzag and a brick stitch and appropriate thread, some invisible
Finishing	As above
Time	This complex piece is likely to take all my spare time so hopefully no more that four or five weeks to complete	The piece took five weeks of spare time to complete. The hours were not itemized but probably around 40 hours
Cost	I am hoping that all the elements will come from my stock of products	Apart from Paverpol, all elements came from stock
Samples

I have enjoyed making this piece. It is good to do something larger and more complicated. I like it very much particularly the cliff scape as it is more abstract, something I am still learning to do. I have always been quite a precise painter and stitched and would like to learn to loosen up. I'm sure that I will during the rest of the course. Good to be halfway through.